Chores for Love
by SasuNarufan13
Summary: When Sasuke starts asking money for chores and asks Deidara to make a statue of a fox for somebody, Itachi gets curious. Itachi's pov; Valentine's day fic; alternate universe; fluff; slash; time skips


**Author's note: Something random I came up with and wouldn't leave me alone. So yep, here you have it. Happy Valentine's Day!**

**Warnings: Itachi's pov; slash; fluff; alternate universe so no shinobi here; time skips**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.**

**Side note: Sasuke is eleven years in this one; not that it really matters a lot, but just as an FYI.**

**I hope you'll like it!**

* * *

**Chores for Love**

The first time he noticed something had changed happened to be when he accidentally overheard a conversation between his parents. He'd come downstairs to drink some water and when walking past the living room on his way back upstairs, he heard his parents talking.

Normally he didn't bother to stay and listen, but the name of his little brother had his attention piqued and he halted right behind the door.

"Are you sure we should give him money if he does chores?" Mother asked.

"Why not? It's a good way for him to learn the value of money and that you need to do work first in order to earn something," Father replied calmly.

"We're already giving him an allowance and he barely spends any of it," she pointed out. "I just don't understand why he suddenly asks for money if he does any chores."

"Maybe he's saving for something?" he suggested. "As long as he handles the money responsibly, I'm not particularly bothered by him asking money for chores. If he wants to work for it, by all means, let him do it."

"I guess you're right," she acquiesced and then asked him about a case he was currently handling.

Contemplatively Itachi went back upstairs; his footsteps muffled by the carpet on the staircase. So his little brother was suddenly asking for extra money in exchange for chores? That was interesting. Sasuke had started getting an allowance two years ago, but he barely spent any of the money. He hadn't seemed particularly interested in it either and just put the money in the tomato piggy bank he'd got as a joke from one of their cousins a few years back.

"Nii-san?" Sasuke's sleepy voice made him pause in front of the open door of the boy's bedroom.

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"What are you doing?"

There was some moonlight peeking through a small gap in the curtains, allowing Itachi to see the vague outline of his little brother in his bed. "Just went downstairs to drink some water. You can go back to sleep," he told him and entered the room to close the curtains completely. "It's still only ten o'clock."

"Hm, okay," Sasuke muttered and he was out like a light by the time Itachi was back in the hallway.

Shaking his head with a smile, he went into his bedroom and sat down in his desk chair. He still had one chapter to read before class tomorrow.

* * *

"So you can make it for me?"

Sasuke's question had Itachi pausing in the hallway and he cocked his head, wondering who his little brother was talking to in the living room.

"Yeah, sure, un, no problem."

_Ah_. Deidara was here. He thought he should be surprised that his classmate had arrived – and was already inside – at his house earlier than him, but he'd ceased to be surprised after the first five times. He was already glad if the blond didn't accidentally blow up something whilst waiting in his room.

"Can you paint it as well?" Sasuke asked next.

"The regular colours, you mean? Or do you want special ones, un?" Deidara sounded amused for some reason.

"The normal colours of course," Sasuke replied with a snort.

"Sure, I can do that. If you give me a week, it should be finished by then," Deidara told him.

"Thank you." When Sasuke appeared in the doorway, he smiled when he spotted Itachi removing his shoes. "Nii-san, welcome home!"

"I'm home," Itachi said and raised an eyebrow. "What were you talking about with Deidara-kun?"

The look of pure innocence on Sasuke's face did not fool him for one second. "Oh nothing, really. Just asking him some things about his art," he said evasively and then practically scurried upstairs. "I'm going to work on my homework!"

Rapid footsteps sounded above Itachi before the sound of a door closing echoed. When he walked into the living room, he found Deidara casually lounging on the couch, flicking through the channels.

"Do I even want to know how you got in this time?" Itachi questioned with a sigh, coming to a stop next to the couch.

Sky blue eyes flicked at him briefly before returning to the television. "Your mother let me in," he answered. "How else would I have got inside?"

Itachi gave him a deadpan look before asking, "What were you discussing with my brother?"

Deidara blinked. "Oh, he was asking me whether I could make a fox for him, un."

"He wants you to make a fox for him," Itachi repeated slowly, furrowing his eyebrows. What on earth would Sasuke do with a clay fox? It wasn't like he collected anything related to that animal.

"Yeah, because at least someone here appreciates my art," Deidara sniffed, narrowing his eyes.

"I would not consider you blowing up things a form of art, Deidara-kun," Itachi sighed and sat down on the couch, crossing his legs. "I will hold you responsible, however, if you make an explosive device out of that fox."

Deidara waved his hand and snorted. "I'm not stupid, you know. He asked me for a statue, not my usual art form, un," he said disgruntled. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it, I'm not going to hurt your precious little brother, geez."

Ignoring the jab, Itachi inquired, "What does he need the statue for? Did he mention that?"

The blond boy shrugged. "He didn't tell me much. Just said it was a present for someone who's fond of foxes, that's all."

"Hm." Itachi leant back against the couch and crossed his arms. "Odd."

Deidara nudged his shoulder, having shuffled closer because he had absolutely no concept of personal boundaries whatsoever. "What's so odd about that, un? Maybe he just wants to give it to a friend," he suggested and shrugged.

"Sasuke's not that close to anyone," Itachi replied, but now he was starting to doubt that fact.

Sasuke hadn't exactly been a social butterfly so far, to mother's quiet despair. The younger boy was more interested in his books than making friends and while he would occasionally hang out with their cousins, he usually preferred to be left on his own.

The image of his quiet, reclusive brother didn't exactly fit with the one asking Deidara to make a fox statue for someone.

Although mother would be happy if Sasuke was finally making some friends of his own.

"Maybe he is and you just don't know it," Deidara said airily and stood up. "You still got those salty snacks in the kitchen?"

"Yes, though mind telling me what you're actually doing here?" Putting the thoughts of his brother to the back of his mind for the moment, he followed Deidara into the kitchen.

"We're doing that chemistry project together, remember?" Deidara said brightly, making his way to the cupboards where mother stored all the snacks.

Itachi frowned. "No, I can't recall I agreed to do that one with you."

"Oh well." A bag of crisps in his one hand, Deidara patted his shoulder on his way out of the kitchen. "Since I'm here, we might as well do the project together."

Itachi sighed resigned and ran his fingers through his hair. Fine, why not. Deidara was probably the best partner he could have for chemistry to be honest. He was definitely more preferable to the likes of Kakuzu and Hidan.

"I'm claiming your chair!" Deidara called out, already on his way upstairs.

On the other hand, neither Kakuzu or Hidan had a tendency to claim his stuff.

* * *

"That should be enough."

"What should be enough?" Itachi quirked an eyebrow and the corners of his mouth twitched amused when Sasuke jumped and yelped, clearly not having heard him coming upstairs.

Sasuke whirled around, his hands holding something behind his back. Wide-eyed, he asked, "What?"

"What should be enough?" Itachi repeated, leaning against the doorframe. Casting a look through the room, he spotted a white box on the bed with a packaged roll of blue wrapping paper and some scotch tape next to it.

"Oh nothing," Sasuke said hastily. "Just, you know, the word count for my history essay."

Itachi hummed, not believing him for one second, but willing to let it go for now. "What's in that box then?"

Sasuke glanced at it before looking back at him. "Nothing, just stuff," he mumbled.

"Right," Itachi said slowly. "So it's not a present for somebody?"

"No, why would it be?" Sasuke asked nonchalantly, but the tips of his ears were starting to turn red.

"Wrapping paper is usually used for presents," Itachi remarked dryly, pointing at the item in question.

"That's … none of your business," Sasuke retorted weakly and looked away. "Don't you have any homework to do or so?"

Itachi smiled and raised his hands. "Fine, I'm going." He backed out of the room and continued his way to his own bedroom, chuckling when he heard the discreet rustling of paper.

When he sat down behind his laptop, his gaze fell on the digital clock with the date right underneath it and he stilled when he realised which day it was going to be tomorrow.

_Valentine's Day._

* * *

He really shouldn't be following his brother secretly, he acknowledged the next day, but his curiosity was hard to ignore and he finally wanted an answer to Sasuke's weird behaviour of the past month and a half.

So here he was now, following his brother at a distance through the town after he'd seen him putting the wrapped present in a bag and calling out to their parents that he would be going to the park for a few hours.

Sasuke saying he wanted to go to the park was already a red flag, considering his brother wasn't particularly fond of the place.

As it was, Sasuke was definitely not following the route to the park. Instead he was making his way to the centre of the town, which only made Itachi's curiosity grow. Who was he going to meet?

The answer turned out to be a blond, blue eyed boy who was awkwardly fidgeting in front of a bookstore. Half of his face was hidden behind a blue scarf, but it was his jacket which made him stand out the most: it was a bright orange and had some white tassels attached to the front. The overall brightness of the boy stood in complete contrast to his brother, who was dressed almost completely in dark colours.

He was close enough to listen to their conversation, but made sure to stay out of sight.

"You came," the blond boy said, sounding both shocked and happy.

"Of course I did," Sasuke scoffed. "Why wouldn't I have?"

"I don't know. Maybe you changed your mind?"

"You're an idiot," Sasuke huffed. "You've been listening to the girls again, haven't you?"

"N-no, it's just …" the boy trailed off, fidgeting.

"Yeah, you did. I told you to quit that. I don't care about them," Sasuke said irritated.

"That's not nice, bastard," the blond boy sighed.

"Yeah well, I don't care. Are you coming with me or not?"

"Where are we going?" The boy hurried after him and Itachi started following as well.

"You'll see," Sasuke said mysteriously and refused to give any sort of hint, no matter how much the blond boy pestered him.

The mysterious place turned out to be the local ramen stand.

The blond boy gasped. "We're going to eat at Ichiraku's?!" he squeaked excitedly, practically vibrating on the spot.

"Yeah, we are," Sasuke confirmed and then held up his wallet. "I got enough money with me, so you can eat as much as you like."

"You're amazing, Sasuke!" the boy exclaimed and dragged Sasuke inside the stand, pushing aside the draped fabric. "Old man, I'm here!"

"Oh, Naruto, good to see you," Ichiraku, the owner of the stand, leant across the counter. "I see you brought a friend with you?"

"Yeah, this is Sasuke; he's going to eat with me today!" Naruto announced cheerfully. "I want the pork one!"

"For me the same, please," Sasuke ordered politely and while the older man started preparing the two dishes, Itachi watched Sasuke put the present on the counter, pushing it to Naruto.

"Here, this is also for you," he said and Itachi was surprised to see a genuine smile brightening up his face.

"Oooh, what is it?" Naruto immediately ripped the paper off it and whipped the cover off it. He gasped loudly when he lifted a small fox statue out of it.

Its fur was painted a deep orange, but the tip of the tail was white and his ears were painted a glossy black. Deidara had done a great job with it; he actually had quite the talent for it. Too bad he seemed to prefer blowing up his art pieces instead of keeping them whole.

"It's so pretty!" Naruto said amazed, tracing the full length of the tail with his index finger. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," Sasuke said and shrugged as if it was nothing.

"I got you something too!" Naruto announced and handed over a crudely wrapped package.

When Sasuke had unwrapped it – more delicately than Naruto had done – he was holding an actually stuffed tomato cushion in his hands. Plastered across the front was some sort of card.

"Did you get me a gift card to the bookstore?" Sasuke asked surprised, plucking the card from the cushion. If he thought the tomato cushion was ridiculous, he didn't show it.

"Yeah, there's not that much money on it, probably not what you're used to spending on books," Naruto admitted embarrassed and scratched the back of his neck, looking away. "But I know how much you like reading, so."

"It's enough. Thank you, Naruto," Sasuke said and his cheeks were definitely tinted pink now.

The colour only deepened when Naruto leant across and gave him a hug. "I'm glad you asked me out today," he said and he was turning red as well.

Itachi had seen enough. Turning around, he leisurely walked away. So the mystery had finally been solved. It was definitely not in a way he had expected, but it could have gone worse.

He'd leave his little brother to his first date for now. Once he was back home, he'd talk with him; there was no rush. He had the rest of their lives to tease his brother about his first date.

Who would have thought his little brother could be this romantic, though? Apparently he wasn't as socially inept as Itachi had assumed.

He looked back once and saw them holding hands underneath the counter. Smiling he went back home.

It was good to know his brother had finally found someone. It didn't matter that this someone was a boy. As long as his little brother was happy, he was happy. Simple as that.

**The End**

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**AN2: Will I ever make endings that aren't weird? Who knows? Time will tell I suppose. I hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit!**

**Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!**

**I hope to see you all back in my future stories!**

**Cuddles**

**Melissa**

**P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.**


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